A Month in Photos [February 2015]

The bliss of winter vacation is still lingering over me ... At the same time, I am in awe seeing the first signs of spring.

In the end of February, I want to share this old, Irish blessing with you:

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow. 

May the soft winds freshen your spirit. 

May the sunshine brighten your heart. 

May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you, 

and may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

... Until next time,

Nina

February 2015 in Photos from Nina Jensen on Vimeo.

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A Month in Photos by Mona's Pictoresque

Helmikuun kollaasihaaste by Pieni Lintu
Weekly Top Shot by The View From Right Here
Saturday's share Fest by The Sits Girls

I'll be there

When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. 

And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.

Matthew 18:19-20 The Message 

God of Our Yesterdays -Chris McClarney


:   :   :

Blessings to your week,
Nina 

Here's a printable 
of Matthew 18:20
for you 


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Give Me Grace 
Scripture & Snapshot

Photo: Nikon DS3200 1/20 sec at f/5.3 ISO 800

Alpaca Silk Dreams

My mom is very creative, she is expert in knitting the most beautiful socks. I was inspired by her crafting magazines and books to crochet something, and I found a recipe for this pretty scarf. Blue being my favourite colour, I fell for this alpaca silk yarn - it is puffy and warm, soft and pleasant.

Crocheting a few hours in the car to the airport, I almost finished this scarf ... When it is done, I will write the recipe here on my blog, with the link to the site I found it from - If you would like to crochet a warm scarf, this is easy and fast to make.

The theme of Kim Klassen's Be Still-class is "A spark is simply inspiration ...". My inspiration was lightened up my mom's creativity and her pretty crafting magazines. 

I edited these photos in Lightroom, and I saved my first own Lightroom preset, nj_Alpaca Silk, which you can download here . The Alpaca Silk preset makes subtle changes, elevating highlights and whites, and lowering the shadows a bit, creating a soft and dreamy look. I have also used a subtle texture layer Simple2 by Kim Klassen, with blending mode Screen 9%.

What is lighting a spark of inspiration to you at the moment?

...Until next time,

Nina

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Texture Tuesday Roses of Inspiration   

Saturday Share Fest 

The Book of My Heart

God made my life complete

when I placed all the pieces before him.

God rewrote the text of my life

when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

Psalm 18:20,24 The Message

Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman

:   :   :

Blessings to your week,

Nina 

Here's a printable 

of Psalm 18:24 

for your

Sharing with

Give Me Grace, Scripture & Snapshot, 

Sunday Stillness

Photo: Nikon DS3200 1/200 sec at f/8.0 ISO 100 - Photo Veils: High Spotlight Right the Illumination Collection by Love That Shot 

Heather Flovery Valentine's Day

Thank you French Kiss Collections for this pretty photo mask

My mom has heather flowers outside her porch - they look so pretty when covered with snow. As you may have guessed, we have spent our winter break visiting my mom in Finland - The week flew by so fast, I'm grateful for each moment! 

The Great Outdoors with slalom and cross-country skiing, playing in the snow, walking ... Breathing the crispy air, watching the squirrels play and enjoying being in the Winter Wonderland.

Our boys fancy the thin, small rye pies, that are salty and filled with rice, a Finnish speciality caller Karjalanpiirakka. Mom baked a whole bunch of them, and we got some of them home with us ... So delicious! We spent a lot of time in the kitchen together - cooking, baking, having tea and coffee - Enjoying the dishes we rarely get home in Denmark.

Saying farewell is not easy - It takes a few days to adjust ... phone calls, Skype and text messages are great ways of keeping contact. Yet I feel a bit like I've left "my soul" behind: I'm waiting for it to arrive from the woods of Finland back to me ... Feeling a bit lost here in the city. 

Travelling with aeroplane makes everything go so fast - Had we driven by car and ferry all the way, we had gotten an opportunity to be "on the way" a bit longer, thereby adjusting to the change from the quiet life in the countryside back to the city. 

Well, it is Valentine's Day, or as the Finnish tradition goes: The Day of Friendship - A day to cherish one's friends and loved one's ... Some snail mails have been written, some e-mails and texts are yet to be send - and already in the morning, some lovely greetings were waiting for me ...

So life goes on ... A part of loving is to feel longing, as well as a part of living abroad is to meet the family a bit seldom.

Well, my kitchen is calling ... Wondering if I should bake a banana bread or chocolate muffins? :)

...Wishing you a lovely Day of Friendship / Valentine's Day,

Nina

PS. Thank you for all the delightful notes on my two former posts - Lovely surprises that made me really happy! 

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Weekly Top Shot Saturday Share Fest Friday Photo Journal

Green Tea With Lemon, Ginger and Mint

Green Tea with Lemon, Ginger and Mint - and a spoonful of honey - has been

my favourite warm drink the past few weeks, like I wrote the other Friday. 

It is the season for all sorts of common cold now, and I have experienced that this mixture does not only taste good, but it seems to contain vitamins and other nourishing and strengthening qualities, that has kept me from getting the flu.

I boil a pot of water, and pour it in my teapot (for 8 cups tea), together with thinly sliced fresh ginger and fresh mint leaves. After about 6-9 minutes, when the water is about 75 C / 165 F degrees warm, I put about 3 tablespoons of green Sencha tea in an empty tea infusion bag, put it into the teapot and let it brew about 2 minutes, whereafter I remove the infusion bag. 

Sencha tea has an aromatic and mildly sweet flavor - when brewed only 2 minutes. With longer brewing time the taste gets easily bitter - or if used boiling water. I leave the ginger and mint into the pot, since I like the warm feeling the ginger leaves to my mouth and throat ... The stronger, the better.

After pouring the tea to a cup, I add some honey and squeeze some citron juice to go with ... Voila!

Green tea with lemon, Ginger and mint is a healthy and tasty way to build up your immune system against a common cold ... And a delicate warm drink, that surely will tickle your tastebuds.

... Let's savor every sip!

Nina

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Texture Tuesday Roses of Inspiration   

Saturday Share Fest 

Camera settings ISO 800  f/4,5   1/15 sec. 

On Air_Lemon LightRoom preset & Epic texture by Kim Klassen

PS. We're having Winter Break and I am away from the blog - this is posted with the help of Bloggers pre-post planner

Roads You Travel

How blessed all those in whom you live,

whose lives become roads you travel;

They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,

discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain.

Psalm 84:5-6 The Message

:   :   :

Blessings to your week,

Nina 

Here's a printable

of Psalm 84:5-6

for you 

Sharing with: 

Give Me Grace, Scripture & Snapshot, 

Sunday Stillness

Photo: Nikon DS3200 1/125 sec at f/7.1 ISO 100 - Photo Veils: High Spotlight Right and Light from the Illumination Collection by Love That Shot 

PS. We're having Winter Break and I am away from the blog - this is posted with the help of Bloggers pre-post planner

Spoonful of moods [Texture Tuesday]

Lightroom preset Moodswing by Kim Klassen

Last weeks theme in Kim Klassen's Be Still 52-class was Spoons. Kim inspired us to create moody photos using a spoon - including shadows, different points of views and depth of fields. Kim used two of her Lightroom presets, Darkmood and Melancholy, in her beautiful captures of dried lavendel on a spoon, lying on pretty, old note pages.

I drink a lot of tea - so does my husband and our oldest son as well - so I thought of making a photo series of green tea. I used an old silver spoon, my husband has gotten from his grandparents, together with a silver coloured tea container. The textured surface of the container made me want to keep it, even when we have a bunch of tea containers - now I'm glad I didn't give it to flee market. 

Using a cover of sushi stick box as a table top, I wanted to convey the feeling of preparing Japanese green tea. The textured blue paper of the box looks a bit like an old handmade parer. I chose it since it creates a vintage type of mood together with the silverware. 

Lightroom preset Melancholy by Kim Klassen

I took the photos in our kitchen, close by the window. I blocked the direct sunlight with a curtain and a low masonite board, to create shadows and accentuate the contrast and highlights. 

By the way, this spoon is my favourite... I use it for serving sugar to coffee and tea - I like the round form and the decorations, both on the top and also down just before the spoonful-part. Adding just a bit more contrast and highlights made the round forms of the spoon pop out. 

I fell for Kim's Moodswing and Melancholy -Lightroom presets. I tweaked the Moodswing photos a bit in Photoshop (I couldn't remember how to do it in Lightroom) - I desaturated the yellows a bit. 

Lightroom preset Moodswing

The Moodswing preset creates an old, worn, Eastern type of mood to the photos - a feeling I like a lot. These two images are my favourites - making them as good candidates for my Still Life-card project.

Lightroom preset Moodswing

The images with Melancholy preset, I diminished the shadows almost all the way to the left in the tone curve - to create more contrast and to lessen the haze.

The Melancholy preset brings along an old, vintage-type of mood, which I may prefer even more ... I play with a thought of printing these two images, the one above and the one below, on a canvas, and hanging them on our kitchen. 

Thank you Kim, for enlightening the inspiration through your courses. Watching your videos and tutorials I feel safe (I was gasping for air when I first time opened the trial version of Photoshop!) - You are taking us by the hand and showing how to use these photo editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom. Just one step at a time. Patiently. Repeating the tips a few times, to assure, that we've got it.

Well, which prints would you prefer - the rustic ones with the Moodswing or the hazy images with Melancholy?

... All the best to your week,

Nina

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Work at it heartily

Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), 

as [something done] for the Lord and not for men.

Colossians 3:23 Amplified Bible

Everyday Miracle by Sara Groves

:   :   :

Blessings to your week,

Nina 

Here's a printable

of Colossians 3:23
for you 

Sharing with: 

Give Me Grace, Scripture & Snapshot, 
Sunday Stillness

Photo: iPhone 5S, Camera+, Snapseed - Texture Austen by Mona's Pictoresque